The Philippine government has increased the budgets and set goals for the country’s maritime and aviation agencies for 2016.
Under the General Appropriations Act 2016 signed by President Beningo Aquino III late last year, the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) budget for the year increased 11.7% to P1.291 billion from P1.156 billion in 2015.
Marina’s mission is to effectively administer an integrated and sustainable maritime industry. Specifically, it is expected to increase the country’s operating merchant fleet by 3% to 6,442 with a baseline of 6,254. A total of 46,721 applications for new and renewal of permits, licenses and certificates of vessels is eyed, higher than last year’s 42,916 target.
The agency will also aim to hike the number of certified seafarers by 5% to 239,313 and domestic seafarers by 2% to 7,906 while reducing maritime-related accidents by 1%.
Other goals include updating 90% of its policies, rules and regulations that have been unchanged over the last three years, and getting a “satisfactory” or “better” rating for its policies from 70% of its clients.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which is tasked to promote and regulate the country’s air transportation sector, was allotted a budget of P97.867 million, up 44% from last year’s P68.032 million.
This year, CAB eyes a 5% increase in domestic seats offered to 28.993 million and another 5% for international seats to 26.631 million. The board also aims to improve domestic routes by 1% to 85 and international routes by 3% to 81.
For passage, CAB seeks expansion of passenger volume to 5% for both domestic and international flights. For domestic, it is looking at 31.352 million passengers and 18.189 million passengers for international.
Meantime, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Office of the Secretary, was allocated a budget of P35.004 billion, 23.8% less than last year’s P45.945 billion. Including other agencies under DOTC, the total department budget for this year is P48.5 billion, 0.8% lower than the P48.9 billion fund in 2015.
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